An extraordinary story, several worthy characters - all women - written with excellence & grace. ( )

This book is a mystery involving two time periods, London in 1967 and Spain in 1936, linked together by a painting. The history of the painting is interesting, especially for someone who enjoys art and the process of creating it. The descriptions of London and Malaga are educational and believable as historical settings. The characters are well-crafted. There are a number of secrets kept by the characters, which are gradually revealed, and enough twists to not be given away too soon. Recommended to art enthusiasts and readers of historical fiction. ( )

The Muse started off really good but lost a bit of my interest towards the middle of the book. Mainly because I found the story in 1936 not as interesting as the one in 1967. Odelle Bastien I found was a much more interesting character to follow than Olive Schloss. Also, I found myself pretty annoyed with the actions of Olive och Teresa.

However, the book had a nice twist towards the end. ( )

No! I was not very attracted to the first time and place and characters, but could have managed to continue with them. But now I am faced with a second time and place and group of characters that do not appeal, and I give up. ( )

This was an OK read, although some of the characters were too annoyingly naive or opaque for my liking. Not as good as "The Miniaturist," unfortunately. ( )